Eberhard Weber - Stages Of A Long Journey

(2007)
Stages Of A Long Journey is a crystal-clear recording of a 65th birthday concert held in his home town, Stuttgart. Guests such as Jan Garbarek and Marilyn Mazur play wonderfully, and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra flesh out famous Weber tunes such as The Colours of Chloe and Silent Feet. … A soundworld further enhanced by the vibes of Gary Burton. Yet Weber always leads from the bass, with a timbre that rings true in any context.
(John L Walters, The Guardian)

Part1 & Part2

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Kettel - Through Friendly Waters

(2005)
After the mesmerizing, acoustic Volleyed Iron on U-Cover last year, Kettel returns to electronics, this time with an organic theme. Some of this music is reminiscent of Plaid’s Not For Threes, but it’s even more beautifully melodic. From the bleeps, piccolo, and piano on the delicate masterpiece “Pinch of Peer” to the subdued cello on the title track, this is a fine, sumptuous album. Other highlights are the squelchy “Shinusob,” and the lo-fi “Purple Jacket Trot.” The CD ends with two cuts from a live performance: “Whom” and “Mwoeb” are both drawn-out and almost ambient. This is the first release on new Dutch label Sending Orbs. Kettel, interviewed here in 2003, is still one of my musicians to watch. His music shows continued growth and maturity, with plenty of pleasant surprises.(Gridface)
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Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen

THE UNFORGETTABLE NHØP TRIO LIVE

(2007)
“This album includes the final recordings by the great bass virtuoso who forced America to revise its opinion about whether Europeans (and Scandinavians in particular) could swing ... They remind us of NHOP’s formidable ability, both as rhythm player and lyrical improviser.”
JAZZWISE, UK
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Line Up:
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - bass
Ulf Wakenius - guitar
Jonas Johansen - drums

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Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa

This seminal disc now almost seems like the manifesto for a whole new strain of minimalism that has found an enormously receptive audience. It represented a breakthrough for Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, whose music--like that of his European colleagues John Tavener and Henryk Górecki--pursues an austerely beautiful simplicity that suggests spiritual illumination. Fratres, given here in two versions, one for piano and violin and the other for 12 cellos, repeatedly intones a sequence resembling chant to convey a sensibility that seems at once archaic and beyond time. Violinist Gidon Kremer, for whom Pärt wrote the exquisitely contemplative and hypnotic title work, grasps the music's koan-like idiom, allowing an inner fullness to resonate through the most fragile, ethereal wisps of tone against the mysterious clangings of prepared piano. The tolling of the tubular bells in Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten is an emotionally charged lament, based on a simple minor descending scale, that introduces Pärt's fascination with what he calls "tintinnabulation": the literal and metaphorical sound of ringing bells. This recording is also famous for the acoustically warm presence produced by ECM's Manfred Eicher, which magnificently captures the mystical simplicity of Pärt's sound world. (Thomas May)
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Gidon Kremer violin
Keith Jarrett piano
Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Dennis Russell Davies conductor
The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Tatjana Grindenko violin
Alfred Schnittke prepared piano
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
Saulius Sondeckis conductor

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